NU Spotlight: Passimian

By Rabia Released: 2019/9/13.
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NU Spotlight: Passimian art

Art by Pipotchi.

Introduction

Passimian started out in Generation 7 as a rather uninspiring pick; although it was rather bulky for a pivot as fast as it, its lack of utility outside of U-turn combined with the presence of more appealing Fighting-types like Emboar and Virizion made it difficult for Passimian to differentiate itself from the competition. However, with Passimian gaining Knock Off and Gunk Shot via USUM move tutors and the loss of much of Passimian's competition due to tier shifts, it managed to solidify its place as the best revenge killer and Choice Scarf user in the tier, checking threatening Pokemon like Incineroar, Heliolisk, and Calm Mind Delphox. This article will aim to look further into how Passimian functions, which Pokemon go well alongside it, and how to avoid losing to its strong Close Combat.

Set

Passimian

This set is Passimian's claim to fame and the reason it has become widely regarded as the second best Pokemon NU has to offer. With Choice Scarf, Passimian is capable of outspeeding and KOing problematic wallbreakers and setup sweepers such as Heliolisk, Aerodactyl, Sceptile, and Delphox. Passimian is also great at providing teams with a secondary Incineroar check due to its usable physical bulk enabling it to take a hit or two from Incineroar. While U-turn and Knock Off provide Passimian with utility and tools to take advantage of checks such as Garbodor, Weezing, Palossand, and Golbat, Passimian's last moveslot is dedicated to better handling checks. Gunk Shot and Earthquake provide the best coverage alongside Passimian's other moves, letting it hit Pokemon such as Comfey, Whimsicott, and Garbodor super effectively, although even Rock Slide has seen usage to deal with Golbat better.

Cores

Passimian Garbodor

Because Passimian is great at getting chip damage on checks like Garbodor, Blastoise, and Whimsicott with U-turn and Knock Off, Spikes support from Garbodor pairs well alongside it to weaken them even quicker. Garbodor also checks Fairy-types like Comfey and benefits from Passimian removing Steelix and Rhydon.

Passimian Heliolisk

Passimian and Heliolisk have excellent offensive synergy with each other and form a potent VoltTurn core. Passimian is capable of drawing in physically defensive Pokemon such as Weezing and Slowking as well as Flying-types such as Xatu and Golbat, which Heliolisk can easily handle. In return, Passimian exerts heavy pressure against Pursuit trappers such as Aerodactyl and Sneasel and certain Ground-types such as Steelix and Rhydon.

Passimian Incineroar

Although Passimian is perfectly capable of being a menace with just its utility and coverage moves, its strong Close Combat is what truly makes it threatening. As a result, Incineroar is a great partner because it can deal with Psychic- and Ghost-types like Sigilyph, Dhelmise, and Rotom. Incineroar appreciates Passimian safely bringing it in with U-turn.

Counterplay

Although Passimian can simply pivot out of any poor matchup with U-turn or cripple switch-ins with Knock Off, that doesn't mean it's impossible to deal with. Rocky Helmet users like Garbodor, Weezing, Xatu, and Palossand are good Passimian checks, since they resist or are immune to Close Combat and punish Passimian for using U-turn thanks to Rocky Helmet's chip damage. Other Fighting-resistant and -immune Pokemon like Rotom, defensive Slowking, Comfey, Vivillon, and Golbat also prevent Passimian from freely using Close Combat. Comfey and Vivillon in particular are nice, as they can take advantage of Passimian locking itself into Close Combat by setting up with Calm Mind and Quiver Dance.

Get Out There

Passimian is a testament to the old saying of "less is more"; the amount of utility it compresses into one teamslot is invaluable to so many different builds. From revenge killing faster threats to making use of its bulk to switch into certain attacks, it's easy to see how Passimian has become such a dominant force in the metagame. Make sure to try it out!

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